Border Patrol: Guatemalan Boy Died in Custody on Christmas

A young boy from Guatemala died while in the custody of the federal government, U.S. immigration authorities said early Tuesday, the second death of an immigrant child under detention in December.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the 8-year-old died at Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in New Mexico shortly after midnight on Christmas Day.

According to initial reporting, a Border Patrol agent noticed the child had “showed signs of potential illness,” and he and his father were transferred to the hospital in Alamogordo, N.M.

There, he was diagnosed with a common cold and a fever, was given prescriptions for amoxicillin and ibuprofen, and then released Monday afternoon, the agency said.

On Monday night, he returned with nausea and was vomiting, and died hours later after being admitted. (Read more from “Border Patrol: Guatemalan Boy Died in Custody on Christmas” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.